[FunRevn]

Originally Posted by wmb

This is very interesting. I too have a creak from the frontal area that is repeatable while pulling into a parking spot on a slight incline. It occurs immediately after light braking (leading me to assume suspension or a brake related issue) but this seems like it could be it.

Can you give me any insight as to the specific fix for my SA?

It turned out to be the motor mount. Now everything is good.

[Xgtowner]

Originally Posted by wmb

Your reason to dump the car seems far fetched. First generation iDrive maybe. But 4.2 is very intuitive. Early iDrive exempted (which really wasn't all that bad) BMWs have always been praised for their ergonomics.

It feels like they hired the windows 8 design team.

Why can't I see the windshield wiper stalks? Why can't we have the std intermittent wipers we have had for 30 years rather than a forced change to a funky auto setup that you have to guess at the sensitivity setting?

Just one more unneccessarily complex mechanical thing to break- and get charged they the nose to fix. Same thing with the auto rear spoiler and headlight washers- just more complex mechanical stuff to break and fix.

Why with the comfort access do you need to choose to open all the doors or just open one?
Why don't they put door unlock buttons inside both front doors rather than cheap out and make you climb into the car to unlock the other doors.

Is not accurate to say BMWs have "always" been praised for their ergonomics. But Maybe that was before the Idrive team came on board?

They should hire some UI design engineers from Nissan, Honda, or Toyota.

[olehead]

everyone to their own opinion - this is my 6th bmw and by far my favorite - love back seat room (very close to my friends 7 seriers) more room for storage that my X3 had with seats down - and with a couple of modifications fast as hell - wife runs it all summer at the drag strip and does very well conisistent high 12 sec range at over 107 mph -

[Ali Shiralian]

Originally Posted by olehead

everyone to their own opinion - this is my 6th bmw and by far my favorite - love back seat room (very close to my friends 7 seriers) more room for storage that my X3 had with seats down - and with a couple of modifications fast as hell - wife runs it all summer at the drag strip and does very well conisistent high 12 sec range at over 107 mph -

Wow, your wife runs it at drag strip?.... Now that's a kinda wife I want

[wmb]

Originally Posted by jdjaye

It feels like they hired the windows 8 design team.

Why can't I see the windshield wiper stalks? Why can't we have the std intermittent wipers we have had for 30 years rather than a forced change to a funky auto setup that you have to guess at the sensitivity setting?

Just one more unneccessarily complex mechanical thing to break- and get charged they the nose to fix. Same thing with the auto rear spoiler and headlight washers- just more complex mechanical stuff to break and fix.

It seems like you're ranting to rant. To each his own but I'm firmly in the camp of there's always improvement for everything, even when it comes to something as simple as wiper stalk design.

Your complaints don't seem to be about F34 specifically but rather seem angry about progress that's been made in recent decades. Neither headlight washers nor automatic wipers, for example, are features that premiered on F34. Rather both are old hat in the luxury segment and have been around for the better part of two decades.

Why with the comfort access do you need to choose to open all the doors or just open one?

Lol. I'm going to say RTFM? But two thoughts:
1. With iDrive you can set either behavior as the default? Note that you used to have to drive to the dealer to get them to program this behavior and now you can do it in car, yourself in less than 30 seconds. See PROGRESS is a great thing.
2. Given that you're climbing into the car to unlock doors, if you had read the manual (or some sense of intuitive logic) you'd know that holding the handle once opens your door, but releasing and holding it again opens all doors. Why anyone wants one door as the default is beyond me, but perhaps security is a stronger concern for some people.

They should hire some UI design engineers from Nissan, Honda, or Toyota.

To each his own, but I couldn't disagree more. iDrive 4.2 is a significant improvement over MMI or Command. On the Japanese side you have that joke of a mouse controller in new Lexuses? Get real. Or the sea of buttons in the Honda? Or even better this joke of a navigation system from Subaru. I'll take my ergonomically placed controller and logical interface ANY day of the week.

Is not accurate to say BMWs have "always" been praised for their ergonomics. But Maybe that was before the Idrive team came on board?

Actually it is. Go read any magazine review since the 80s. Beyond vehicle dynamics I think a huge part of the 3 Series' success has been it's driver orientation and ergonomic controls which have always been clear and angled towards the driver.

During the Bangle era, BMW was derided from straying from the driver orientation and for the original iDrive system. It took two full reboots (the first moving away from Windows CE to Siemens VDO for second generation iDrive and then later the addition of the MMI-style controller and newer interface in 4) to get where we are today. Again, please go do some homework as it's a widely held view amongst automotive press that iDrive 4 and derivatives beyond it (like 4.2 which we have) are the best in terms of infotainment available in a vehicle at this time. That and our driver orientation is back.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by wmb

Why anyone wants one door as the default is beyond me, but perhaps security is a stronger concern for some people.

That's a city thing, in some neighborhoods you don't want to make it an invitation to others to jump in your car when you hit the button. I had mine reset to open all the doors before I drove it off the lot. My old car required hitting the button twice to open all the doors, I prefer the BMW method.

[BrasWien]

Originally Posted by jdjaye

Why can't we have the std intermittent wipers we have had for 30 years rather than a forced change to a funky auto setup that you have to guess at the sensitivity setting?

Just one more unneccessarily complex mechanical thing to break- and get charged they the nose to fix. Same thing with the auto rear spoiler and headlight washers- just more complex mechanical stuff to break and fix.

They should hire some UI design engineers from Nissan, Honda, or Toyota.

Intermittent wipers: Yes, the GT does have standard intermittent wipers! Here in Austria I chose not to pay extra for the automatic wipers and got the intermittent. They work just like those of my old Nissan Sentra (which I enjoyed a lot).

Headlight washers: Yes, the GT does not come with headlight washers! Here in Austria I chose not to pay extra for xenon and got halogen headlights (which do not demand washers). They work a little better than those of my old Nissan Sentra (which I enjoyed a lot).

Auto rear spoiler: it is necessary for stability at high speeds. In German roads you can easily and legally cruise at 180-200 km/h. BMW would not have included something so expensive if it weren't really necessary (it would, of course, be sold as an extra part).

Think this way: most iPhone users would initially hate Android interface if they changed platform (and vice-versa). But both technologies deliver very nice features, better in some aspects and worse at others. Same with Japanese x European cars, old fashioned x high tech vehicles. If you don't feel comfortable with what you got, just change back (or downgrade your specs).

[Mike_L]

I have no headlight washers even with Xenon. You don't have to get stuck with them if you don't want them. The wipers are godsend. Intermittent is useless when conditions are always changing. Automatic changes with the conditions. The iDrive system is the best infotainment system on the market. When the new one comes out and adds on touchscreen support, it'll be even better. Compared to iDrive, all the other ones are garbage. I'm looking at you Toyota Entune, Hyundai Bluelink, Kia UVO, etc. COMMAND has gotten better, and MMI is pretty good, but the damn controller is backwards.

And as was stated, the wing is necessary. At speed the GTs shape causes lift. Without the wing, the back of the car gets light at 70mph and will lift at 80.

[B5rider]

While not a direct copy, Audi and now Mercedes have a rotary knob as the main interface. When I drive my wife's Ford, I'm always reaching for the iDrive knob. It's very intuitive for me.

[Mike_L]

Audis is backwards though. It was such a pain to me when I got the A6. To go down you have to turn counterclockwise, instead of clockwise like BMW.

[smithf80]

Originally Posted by BrasWien

Headlight washers: Yes, the GT does not come with headlight washers! Here in Austria I chose not to pay extra for xenon and got halogen headlights (which do not demand washers). They work a little better than those of my old Nissan Sentra (which I enjoyed a lot).

I hate headlight washers in general but if anything I think it would be the other way around. Halogens would need theme, Xenons really wouldn't.

(but again, I really think no one needs them, atleast here in the US, all they do is spew soapy water all over the damn hood)

[x5mad]

Originally Posted by smithf32

I hate headlight washers in general but if anything I think it would be the other way around. Halogens would need theme, Xenons really wouldn't.

(but again, I really think no one needs them, atleast here in the US, all they do is spew soapy water all over the damn hood)

With HID having at least twice the output of halogens you wouldnt want dirt or otherwise on your headlights causing refractive problems and into the eyes of on coming motorists. Hence in most countries it is mandatory to have headlight washers if your car has HID.

You can code off the headlight washers but not recommended for reasons above.

[smithf80]

Originally Posted by x5mad

With HID having at least twice the output of halogens you wouldnt want dirt or otherwise on your headlights causing refractive problems and into the eyes of on coming motorists. Hence in most countries it is mandatory to have headlight washers if your car has HID.

You can code off the headlight washers but not recommended for reasons above.

Really? That's why?

I would think they're better on halogens because if they are caked up in dirt than the output will be shit and you won't be able to see, Xenons can cut thru the dirt. I don't see how dirt causes refraction tho, that doesn't make any sense, the beam is the beam.

[Mike_L]

Thats ridiculous. I didn't even need washers on my Audi with LED headlights. It actually had them, but Audi disables them for US cars because we bitch a lot about them spraying on the hood.

[Billfitz]

According to Osram:

It is a widespread fallacy that headlamp washers are only compulsory for xenon lights. This is wrong on several counts. The latest generation of xenon, the 25-Watt version, doesn’t actually need one at all. Meanwhile, halogen and LED headlamps do need one if their light sources emit more than 2000 lumens. Indeed, this is required for ECE approval. (Under the DOT regulations in North America headlamp washers are not mandatory at all.) These do not refer specifically to xenon, but as no approved halogen lamp exceeds this threshold value and as this also is the case with most LED systems, only xenon headlamps are, in fact, affected in practice. They emit around 3000 lumens.
So why do headlamps need a washer system at all? Most people think it is so that dirt cannot dim the light. This is only partly true, and in fact, this wouldn’t be a particularly crucial concern with xenon lights, which have such a very high light output. The main reason for the requirement is that dirt can impair the optical features of the headlamp and cause glare. Incidentally, headlamps which are only slightly soiled cause a stronger glare, and of course the brighter the headlamp, the stronger the glare.

[B5rider]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

Audis is backwards though. It was such a pain to me when I got the A6. To go down you have to turn counterclockwise, instead of clockwise like BMW.

Like scrolling on a page using a Mac or Windows!

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by B5rider

Like scrolling on a page using a Mac or Windows!

I've never used a Mac. Do you scroll down by using the scroll wheel going up like you're moving the page upwards?

[B5rider]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

I've never used a Mac. Do you scroll down by using the scroll wheel going up like you're moving the page upwards?

The scrolling motions are opposite. On a Macbook, you swipe up to scroll down and its the opposite on a Windows-based laptop. Very awkward when you are used to one way of doing things

[x5mad]

Originally Posted by smithf32

Really? That's why?

I would think they're better on halogens because if they are caked up in dirt than the output will be shit and you won't be able to see, Xenons can cut thru the dirt. I don't see how dirt causes refraction tho, that doesn't make any sense, the beam is the beam.

I didnt mean or say just dirt. If anything adheres to the headlight lens it can potentially change the path of the beam.

Stick any semi transparent object or material onto the lens and it will diffract the light. (eg dirt + rain, but many different other examlpes as well)

Test it yourselves. At night when the washers go off and your lights are on have you never noticed how the light beam goes everywhere? Same principle for any material in the way of the beam.

also, I should have been clearer but the washers are for cars with high intensity lighting , the standard 35w xenon and current LED will have minimum 2000 lumens. The lower wattage someone refers to above does not need one due to lower light intensity.

[x5mad]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

According to Osram:

... The main reason for the requirement is that dirt can impair the optical features of the headlamp and cause glare. Incidentally, headlamps which are only slightly soiled cause a stronger glare, and of course the brighter the headlamp, the stronger the glare.

This is what I was referring to re refraction of the beam

[BrasWien]

Sorry, guys, I really don't know (and care) much about headlight washers. The BMW salesman just told me that if I bought the xenons I would have to buy washers as well, and I assumed that there was a connection between them.

But just adding a little bit of spice, VW says: "The headlight washer system has an electrically driven rotary pump that sprays water or cleaning fluid at high pressure onto the headlight glass from the outside. This means safer driving in rain, snow and muddy road conditions. A headlight washer system is required by law with xenon headlights."

http://en.volkswagen.com/en/innovati...ngsanlage.html

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by BrasWien

A headlight washer system is required by law with xenon headlights."
http://en.volkswagen.com/en/innovati...ngsanlage.html

In Europe. Some manufacturers may opt to put them on export models as well to simplify the number of build options.